


Eager Young Space Cadets

by kanadka



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Episode Tag, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 12:31:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16744051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanadka/pseuds/kanadka
Summary: How exactlydidGaribaldi talk Delenn into watching Looney Tunes in "Midnight on the Firing Line"?





	Eager Young Space Cadets

**Author's Note:**

> NimbleInquiry: I want the scene where he talked Delenn into this  
> Me: god same  
> averysage: SAME  
> teasugarsalt: SAME  
> Me: that's a GREAT IDEA actually  
> awkwardsod: hard same
> 
> quorum clearly reached, here is that scene, Duck Dodgers not included

Garibaldi asks Sinclair first, pinging him over the link as he's en route. One final nightly checkup to set his mind at ease before he goes off-duty. First he stops by C&C, then by security HQ, then he heads home - or what passes for it on Babylon 5. " _Unless the station's on fire, I don't want to hear it, Michael_ ," says Sinclair.

"Was gonna see if you were up for movie night, actually," replies Garibaldi. "Promise. Only movie night!"

" _Thought you were going to the polls_ ," Sinclair says.

"I did. Doesn't take me a half hour." Ivanova isn't in C&C - her subordinate lieutenant Nowak is in charge. When Garibaldi asks where Ivanova is, Nowak gives a half-hearted shrug and suggests she's taking a late dinner after that council meeting. "Say, Jeff, listen -"

" _I can't believe your second favourite thing in the universe is movie night_ ," says Sinclair.

"All you gotta do is sit there, and I'll wake you at the funny parts, and you can crack a smile between z's," offers Garibaldi, though he knows it's a long shot - Sinclair sounds dead on his feet. "I got a real comfy couch."

" _Not this time_ ," says Sinclair. " _I'm answering the siren call of my bed_."

"Suit yourself." Garibaldi lets him go as he boards the transport shuttle. "Zocalo, tier one," he says.

He spots Talia Winters there. "Talia! Wait up," he says, and jogs up next to her.

Miss Winters doesn't even slow her pace. "Uninterested," she replies icily.

"Aw, c'mon," he says, "you didn't even hear what I had to offer."

"Oh, I heard it," she says. She taps her temple. "Cartoons? _Really_ , Mister Garibaldi, that's terribly juvenile, if it's not an excuse."

"They're a classic, and also I prefer the term _young at heart_ ," Garibaldi retorts.

"You get points for the effort." Miss Winters rolls those pretty big blues of hers and turns on her heel into Cho Nelson's.

Garibaldi stops just shy of the threshold. Miss Winters turns back and he could swear he sees satisfaction in her expression, like she'd made a guess and had it confirmed - or snooped enough in his thoughts to grab some intel to act on. Like she already knows he hesitates to walk into a bar. Well, if that's not a sign.

Screw it, he thinks. It's just because Cho's doesn't serve a wide variety of sodas and non-alc drinks. Poor selection. That's all.

He watches from the Zocalo hallway as Winters takes a seat next to Ivanova, who's pounding back glasses. So much for dinner, thinks Garibaldi. This is why he'd got on so well with Takashima, he thinks. Laurel didn't get to the bar much. Neither did Lyta. She wound up being okay, after that whole mess with Kosh, but she's gone now, too.

Could always ask one of the ambassadors, Garibaldi thinks. Not Kosh, though. They don't talk enough - and when they do, it's a riddle and a half to sort out whatever Kosh meant.

Londo ...

No, not Londo. Not tonight. Garibaldi was by earlier that evening because he had to check his quarters. No weapons, naturally. There was some sort of weird energy reading under a few of Londo's tchotchkes but nothing more, and Londo passed 'em off as a necessary component of a Centauri idol. From his expression, he didn't want to elaborate, and Garibaldi didn't want to belabour the point. Londo already didn't understand Earth humour, and tonight he'd be in no mood to try.

Ambassador G'Kar was right out, too. Rotten trick he'd pulled. Garibaldi liked Londo from the get-go, he was funny and clever, if a bit maudlin and bitter (but then again, so's Garibaldi himself, and maybe that's the point - like attracts like). Garibaldi doubts he'll ever have anything in common with G'Kar, who is all about plotting and deception. Suspicious-to-a-fault Garibaldi found it slimy. Maybe the Minbari have a point when they go on about honour.

Minbari...

Ambassador Delenn wasn't in her quarters when he was by earlier for Londo - she usually comes out to greet him when she hears him in the hallway, _if_  she hears him, and the new Centauri aide said he'd spotted her heading down for dinner. There's only one place in the Zocalo that serves Minbari food. Worth a shot, thinks Garibaldi.

Delenn is sipping daintily from a little handleless cup when he arrives at the Fresh Air Restaurant. Garibaldi shudders to think how much the tea alone must cost here. "Ambassador," says Garibaldi, by way of greeting. She has a bowl of something that looks like congee. There's some left, decorated with what looks like a little cube of green tofu, but she's pushed the bowl away with her spoon overturned on the rim to show she's finished eating.

"Mister Garibaldi," says Delenn. She sets down the tea and inclines her head in a bow. "I apologise. You were looking for me."

"Was I?"

She waves her hand around, gesturing to the restaurant. "You do not usually come to this place."

"Neither do you," Garibaldi replies.

"In my defence, the station cafeteria - although well-stocked for its non-Human residents - closes three hours ago. I had some business to take care of earlier, after the council meeting. Thus, a late dinner." Delenn smiles, with some tightness around the mouth. "I will admit the food is better here, but - it is still overspiced."

"Really?"

Delenn pauses to think. "In the interest of cultural exchange," she says, "I would offer you some. I have finished, and it is Minbari custom to share." She pushes the bowl towards Garibaldi and wraps her napkin around the spoon head, then extends it to him, handle first. "This grain is ingestible by humans."

Garibaldi will admit, the curiosity gets the better of him. He dips the spoon in, handle first, and hesitantly samples a fractional bite of the congee-like porridge. Milky. He doesn't think much of the grain itself, or the weird green tofu cube. Texture's fine. Bit bland. Could use some garlic.

He can't believe Delenn thinks this is overspiced.

"Not bad," says Garibaldi, going for considerate, but he sets the spoon back down as Delenn watches and somehow Garibaldi doubts his real conclusion has escaped her. "That's the first time I've heard of someone complaining about the xenochef here. He's world-renowned. Well. _Galactically_ -renowned. Studied under the great Centauri chef Iuripae Julina himself."

Delenn blinks.

"Londo talks a lot," Garibaldi admits. "To be honest, I'm surprised I've been listening."

"I do not _complain_ ," says Delenn. "That is not the word. I simply point out that the recipe he has followed is wrong."

Garibaldi shrugs. "He probably never got the visa to study on Minbar."

Delenn smiles that tight smile again. "Yes," she says, with some wistfulness. "The Federation and its worlds are rather ... restricted."

"It's a shame," says Garibaldi. He stuffs his hands in his pockets. "Anyway, in the interest of cultural exchange," he adds, "suppose you want to watch something with me? I have a few films on data crystals."

"Films," says Delenn.

"You - you do have those on Minbar? Moving pictures, video, tells a story, and all that?"

"We have theatre," she says. "Most often we watch it live. There are recordings and broadcasts. Is it like that?"

"Oh-ho, it's way better," Garibaldi promises. Then he sobers. "Well. It's ... an animated film, so better is in the eye of the beholder."

"Animated?" asks Delenn. "As opposed to stationary? How do you tell a story if the figures do not move?"

"Ah," says Garibaldi, wagging his index finger. "You see, we got artists who draw so many pictures of figures, in different frames of motion, that when you string all the pictures together and pass them in front of the viewer real fast, the figure appears to be moving. It's a trick of the eye. It's like a drawing that comes to life."

Delenn sits back, awed and enchanted. "Fascinating," she says, and the funniest thing is, she actually sounds like she means it. "I would have never conceived of such a thing."

"Eh. You probably would have, if Minbari were less dignified," says Garibaldi with some modesty. "It's - it's not a serious kinda film. This stuff won't win any Luna Awards, that's for sure."

"Then I am not sure I would understand them," says Delenn, "without a guide. Your species' humour is... perplexing to me."

"I dunno, I thought you caught the hang of limericks pretty well," said Garibaldi.

"I did not realise they were jocular in nature," says Delenn, "until Sinclair confirmed it. And you have specialised access to these films?"

"Babcom setup in my quarters's jury-rigged to play from data crystals." He grins. "Perks of being the security chief."

Delenn sits back in her seat, wary. "Is it not the custom of Humans to invite an intended to a cinema viewing?"

"An intended?" Garibaldi frowns.

"As for courtship," says Delenn primly. She purses her lips. "Mister Garibaldi, I am afraid I will have to turn down your offer. It would be improper, and I am not looking to court -"

"Whoa, neither am I," says Garibaldi. He holds up his hands in defence. "If it wasn't gonna be you, it'd've been someone else - Sinclair, maybe Ivanova. Londo, even! And I'm not looking to get into _his_  pants." He squints. "Or under his shirt. You know, I don't really know what the Centauri euphemism is. They've gotta have at least five."

"So then I am the _last_  one you have asked," says Delenn.

Garibaldi sighs. "I didn't mean it like that," he says.

"I am merely toying with you," says Delenn. She grins wide. "We are not always _so_  dignified. I accept your invitation. Purely in the interests of cultural exchange, of course."

"Great!" says Garibaldi. "I'll bring the popcorn, you bring the -" he gestures to Delenn's nearly empty bowl.

"We may forego the unsatisfactory khon'ai custard," she says. "I am, however, deeply intrigued about this popped corn..."

**Author's Note:**

> if you liked this, come hang with us on discord (hmu for a link)! and also we have weekly B5 watching streams where questionable ideas like the above are spawned!


End file.
